Off and on my hook.

Here's a pic of a hat I finished for my son last night. I used the Remebering Gage pattern at Head Huggers. Instead of Caron SS and an H hook though, I used Homespun and a J hook.
I've been meaning to put some progress bars on my blog so I can keep track of what I'm working on (and what I plan to do), but I just haven't had time to do it yet. What I'm currently working on is the Seraphina Shawl using a rich, chocolate brown chenille for my mom for Christmas. I've also got some hats and mittens going for the girls, mittens for JW, getting ready to do another ghan formy other sister, a pair of slippers, and a rug for the bathroom.
How many days are left til Christmas?

Passing on/sharing the art!

My daughter's have been learning to crochet. They asked me months ago to teach them and I did teach them a basic chain. They both decided that was all they needed to know from me and instead tried to learn from a book I had bought them. After a while Amber gave up, but Alicia went off and did her own thing. After months of work (while not knowing any stitches, but "making up her own") she finished a 'scarf' that she wants to give to a friend. It's got some very interesting stitches, knots, spaces, and textures to it!
They both came to me this weekend ready to have another lesson so we started over with a basic chain. They made and remade chains until their tension wasn't so erratic (they learned this faster than I did!). Then we proceeded on to sc. They both did a couple of swatches before Amber decided it was boring, but Alicia just kept at it and made a LOT of improvement. She's still learning to count stitches per row and sometimes misses a stitch or two, and even sometimes does a blo or flo rather than going thru both loops! All in all though I'd say we had a very successful lesson!

Aztec Sun

Well I've finally finished the sun ghan! I've been down with a bad head cold today and I was so cold, nothing better than to snuggle under a nice warm blanket. Of course it gave me plenty of time to finish the last few rounds! Although I bought extra yarn specifically for this project when I started it, I ran out of red 2 1/2 rounds from completion. Talk about frustration!! Thankfully AC Moore is having a 25% off sale on their yarns so I picked up an extra skein yesterday and I used most of it to finish! I used a J hook and basic RH yarn, the final measurement of it is 78 3/4 dia. I had to stand on a chair with the ghan on the floor to get most of it in the photo.
When we were kids, my sister painted a big yellow/orange sun on the ceiling of her bedroom and she's such a vibrant person that this pattern literally screamed at me when I saw it and I knew I had to make it for her. Sure hope she likes it!

12" squares

I sent off two more 12" squares today for my AIAY (Afghan In A Year) exchange. These squares are fun to do and work up fast. I hope the recipients like them as much as I liked making them.
I wish I would have taken this pic AFTER I blocked the square. It looks so much better than this, but I've already mailed it off.
4 more rounds and I'll finish the sun ghan and look where I'm at. Am I working on the ghan? NO, I'm sitting here typing this and AVOIDING it! Ok, off to work on it I go! Keep your fingers crossed that I don't get distracted with more squares or washcloths...hehe

Almost finished!!

Well, I'm almost finished with the sun ghan that I've been working on since July. I have to admit that I'm rather embarrassed that it's taking so long, but it gets SO boring to work on it. I figure if I don't spend too much time on here or working on other projects I can probably get it done by Wednesday afternoon. We'll see.....

Wish me luck!! lol

Drop Zone

I sure didn't get much done today, but I had a good time! After school, the kids and I went out to the drop zone where W was working and watched some HALO (high altitude low opening) jumpers. The girls like to count the parachutes as they open and of course watch them come down, and JW just likes to run around and play and point at the men and women falling out of the sky!
After everyone was safely back on the ground, we had to put JW in the back of the truck so he wouldn't run all over the chutes that were on the ground. One of the Sgt's left his helmet and goggles and JW just couldn't resist. Of course daddy helped him ;)
Apparantly, daddy started out jumping the same way. By messing with his daddy's (or daddy's friend's) gear when he was a little boy. Looks like we may have another jumper in the family.
All in all, it turned out to be a pretty good day. What more could I ask for?

Finished poncho

Well, I finished the poncho for myself just in time for the cold mornings here. I used a lighter weight yarn than the pattern called for, but it's still warm! It's called Woman's Poncho from the Lion Brand website. I also changed the colors, but I think you'll see that they work well together.

Busy Hooker

Phew, my slump is definitely over and my hooks have been very busy. I mentioned last week that I had joined a couple of charity groups for survivors of Katrina. I've devoted most of my crochet time for the past week to these 2 projects and have come up with the following.
The top picture is 6" squares for Squares4Survivors and the bottom is washcloths for ClothsforKatrina .
Yesterday I went to AC Moore and Hobby Lobby to see if I could find some more cotton on sale. I didn't find any cotton on sale, but I did find Wool-Ease on sale at HL for $1.37/skein so I finally bought some to start a project I've been wanting to make for myself. I also bought a couple of Red Heart Crystallites hooks. I've never used them before but they had the 'L' and 'M' that I've been looking for. What a dream to work with! I've always used Boye hooks and had never tried a 'straight' hook before. OMG I feel like I'm hooking 5x faster now!

Halloween Swap

Now that I've gotten word that my partner received her swap box, I can post pictures of what I made. I mentioned a while back that I was using FPDC for the first time and showed a pic. Well, I was using this cute pumpkin candy purse pattern and had a blast with it. Here's how mine turned out!

The next thing I made was this cute doily from Annie's Attic - Easy One-Day Doilies book.
The original pattern called for size 10 thread in teal and pink using a size 7 hook with a finished size of 5 1/2" dia. I wanted it to be a little bigger so I substituted size 3 thread in orange and black and used a size 0 hook. If I remember correctly, the finished diameter turned out to be just a little over 8 inches!
I had a lot of fun putting this swap package together and my kids got to help. We added a bag of candy corn, some different types of tea bags, a cute little stuffed witch, some halloween socks, and a leaflet of little boy afghan patterns. I sure hope my partner had as much fun opening the package as I had putting it together!

Been a few days

Phew, I think this is the longest I've gone without a post since I started this thing. In my last post I stated that I was in a slump, well, I'm happy to say it's over. I've finished some cloths for ClothsforKatrina, gotten the yarn together that I'm going to use for Squares4Survivors, and finally finished the last 15 fill-ins on the round ripple.
Now I have to weave in all those ends and finish the last 13 rounds. So far it's looking pretty good. Even JW likes it! Although it's kind of hard to tell from his expression!

I think this last pic shows the ghan best.

I'll post pics of the cloths later. For now I need to get back and finish watching The Aviator! lol

In a slump

Our AC went out over the weekend. Again. It's not necessarily hot outside, but as most of our windows get the morning and afternoon sun it gets HOT in here. (They were here this morning to fix it - seems it was out of freon again, second time in 3 months). To top that off, I had a pinched nerve in my shoulder so I was hot and in pain. Needless to say, I didn't do much crocheting (or anything else for that matter). I did join a couple of programs to help the survivors of Katrina and Rita. One is making washcloths and the other is 6" squares. I did make one washcloth this weekend, but with the pain and the heat it took me all weekend..lol I'll post pics when I have more to add.
Maybe now that the shoulder is better and the AC is fixed I'll get motivated to finish some of my WIPs and whip out some more washcloths and squares, but first I have an incredible urge to make COOKIES!!!!

"T" is for Tunisian

Maybe I should change that to "T" is for Tension (lack of or too much - it's all the same). I've recently learned Tunisian crochet and I'm finding that I have NO tension control. The more I do, the tenser I get, the tighter my stitches get. I've noticed as I'm working my way across the row that my shoulders start hunching up into my neck and it gets harder and harder to get my hook thru the posts, or if I'm working my way back thru the first loops.
Maybe it's because it's still new to me and I'm trying too hard (couldn't possibly be the stressors in my life). Anyway, is there anybody out there who has any advice on the matter? I'd love for you to leave a comment if you do. I really want to master this type of crochet. TIA